Judd's Brisk Pace Lifts The Joy Of `Messiah'

MUSIC REVIEW

"I should be sorry if I only entertained them," Handel said about the audience after a performance of his grand oratorio, Messiah. "I wished to make them better."

Whether the crowd at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale on Monday evening was made better by the Florida Philharmonic's annual performance of the holiday staple is not known. But this certainly was more than a case of mere entertainment.

Conductor James Judd continued his tradition of presenting a note-complete Messiah, allowing concertgoers to savor the full range of the musical and poetical imagination at work. (The scriptural texts, artfully chosen for Handel by Charles Jennens, could have been more easily appreciated had enough light been left for folks to read the words. Diction, especially by the soloists, was not sufficiently distinct.)

Considering that Judd returned from Europe only on Saturday, and could not have done much rehearsing with the assembled forces, the generally smooth results were all the more remarkable. The music positively danced along, as virtually all Baroque music should; the conductor's tempos never sagged for a moment.

This propulsiveness was especially telling in the oratorio's second and third parts, usually abridged by most performing groups. The sheer speed attained in such choral passages as The Lord gave the word, Let us break their bonds asunder and But thanks be to God was exhilarating. The reflective moments of the score did not lose expressive weight at Judd's pace, but rather served the musical needs as attentively as the verbal.

The Philharmonic Chorus, under Paul Eisenhart's direction, has never sounded so accomplished or musically sensitive. Even with about 150 singers, the ensemble maintained a light, transparent tone. And, no matter the speed, articulation - of notes, if not always words - was nimble. The tenor section has been noticeably fortified, and pitch, which has been a problem before, was quite solid.

Things were not so cohesive among the solo quartet. Bass Kevin Bell was the most satisfying. If he tended to smear coloratura lines, his phrasing always had strong character. Tamara Kaufman's singing was stylish, but her small mezzo barely traveled to the mezzanine, where I was sitting, and her top register was iffy. Soprano Louise Russell and tenor Mark Merriott left little impression other than earnestness.

To their credit, all four made attempts at embellishing their lines, as was done liberally in Handel's time. I would have welcomed even more.

The small complement of orchestra members may have sounded a bit tired by the end, but most of the playing was polished and vivid. Trumpeter Jeffrey Kaye was, as usual, invaluable.

The concert was a one-night stand; a Miami performance over the weekend was canceled due to the Summit of the Americas. But Monday's effort was filmed by WPBT-Ch. 2 for broadcast - condensed to an hour - on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.